He said: "The golf club desperately needs this application, particularly because of the financial situation of the golf club, which is in a state of severe overdraft, low membership, with a structurally declining club house."

He added that the golf course itself is suffering severe flooding and drain-age problems which need addressing and the only way left to revive the club's fortunes is to "sell some of the family silver".

Raising this money, he said, would help them make essential improvements and open the club out to the wider community.

However, the plans originally submitted raised many concerns with planning officers and neighbours - including encroaching on green belt land, creating traffic problems, being out of keeping with nearby listed buildings and adversely affecting the line of the Roman road from Manchester to Ribchester and any archeological remains buried along it.

Speaking against the application on Tuesday, a neighbour said: "I do wish Whitefield Golf Club well, but I don't want them to do it at the expense of the environment."

The club submitted a modified set of plans the day before the meeting which councillors had not yet seen and planning officers had only been able to have a cursory look at by the time the panel met.

A recommendation from chief planning officer Brian Daniels that any decision be deferred until a later meeting - giving time for the new plans to be properly scrutinised - was carried.